The present invention relates to continuous casting, and more particularly relates to a continuous casting plant for metals, and more particularly for steel, comprising at least one casting line presenting a curved guide path for bending the casting leaving the casting mold from a substantially vertical direction to a rectilinear, substantially horizontal direction through a straightening machine and across a following cutting device which shears the casting in a number of sections of predetermined length.
In the known continuous casting plants of the above described kind, at the end of each casting operation and for each casting line, on that portion of the path of the strand comprised between the straightening machine and the cutting device the last section of the casting, the so called tail-end section, is left.
The said tail-end section has a variable length, which is less than the length of the preceding sections but which may not withstanding be substantial, which must be discharged manually or by means of a crane from the path of the strand, in order to clear the casting line. The said tail-end section must be discarded since it is not usable for the following processing steps. In multi-line casting plants the said tail-end sections are formed at each line and represent a valuable loss of production.
It is therefore the main object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for a continuous casting plant for the casting of curved strands in which the disadvantages of the prior art plants are overcome.
In accordance with this main object, between the straightening device and the following cutting device of at least one casting line of the casting plant, means are provided for stepwise feeding the tail-end section of the casting through the cutting device, and for operating said cutting device after each feed step of the said tail-end piece so as to cut the said tail-end piece into comparatively small stubs which are discharged downstream of the cutting device out of the path of the casting, and which are preferably discharged beneath this path by means of a chute.
The means for stepwise feeding the tail-end section across the cutting device, in order to reduce same into small stubs, may be of any suitable kind, and for instance may be formed by at least one pair of pinch-rolls, and/or by a longitudinal pushing device, formed for instance by a hydraulic or pneumatic pushing cylinder which is arranged so as to be shiftable into a rest position out of the path of the strand during the casting operation, and to be positioned into an operating position at the end of the casting operation, in which it is disposed in the path of the strand between the straightening device and the cutting device, rearwardly of the tail end section of the casting, so as to push also the last portion of said tail end section across the cutting device.
In the instance of continuous casting plants provided with two or more casting lines, measuring and programming means are provided according to the invention for programming the length or the single sections in which the casting must be cut on the single casting lines, which means automatically controls the casting operation on the several lines in such a manner that the tail-end section to be discarded is formed only on one single casting line, which is provided between the straightening device and the cutting device with the above-mentioned means for stepwise feeding the said tail end section across the cutting device, and for operating the said cutting device at each feed step of the said tail end section, so as to cut same into comparatively small stubs, whilst the end sections obtained from the castings on the remaining casting lines are exactly of the prefixed length. By operating in this manner, the following advantages are obtained with respect to the prior art casting plants:
The production of tail-end sections at the end of each casting operation is automatically limited to one single casting line. The tail-end section formed on the said casting line is cut in small stubs and discarded automatically, without hands. The reset time of the multiline casting plant is remarkably reduced, and the need of additional devices and/or hands for the following cool reduction into scrap of the tail-end sections to be discarded is obviated.